"We need to secure this place."
Jin's voice came out lower than he expected, rough from exhaustion and everything they had survived. He pushed himself upright from where he had been sitting beside Min, ignoring the protest in his ribs and the ache in his legs.
"If we're staying here, we make it defensible."
No one argued.
At this point, nobody had enough energy left for arguments. Fear had burned through all of that already.
Slowly, everyone moved.
Desks were dragged across the floor, chairs shoved into corners, broken cabinets forced in front of the door. The screech of metal legs scraping against tile made Jin's nerves twitch every single time, but he honestly prefered the noise over the quiet plus they needed something between themselves and whatever still walked those halls.
Jin shoved his shoulder against a heavy storage cabinet near the empty vending machine, teeth clenched as it scraped forward inch by inch. His arms burned. His entire body felt like it belonged to someone else.
Minho stepped beside him without a word and pushed too, his enhanced strength finally showing itself in a way that mattered. Together they forced it against the break room entrance, adding one more useless but necessary layer between them and death.
It wouldn't stop a real monster.
Everyone knew that.
But in the moment they needed the illusion of control.
As Jin stepped back, catching his breath, Minho stared at the barricade for a long moment.
Then he asked quietly, "Do you think this will actually stop anything?"
They had seen the monsters be able to tear through concrete, steel, and human bodies like it was made of paper, a few desks and a broken vending machine would do nothing.
Still, Jin grabbed another chair and shoved it into place.
"Something is better than nothing."
Minho gave a short, humorless laugh.
"Yeah."
He stood there for a second longer, staring at the barricade like maybe if he looked hard enough, it would become stronger.
Then something in him cracked.
"I was supposed to go home today."
"My daughter was waiting for me. Every day, she waits by the door because she thinks I'll bring snacks." He let out a shaky breath and rubbed a hand over his face. "This morning I was late. I was already irritated. She ran up to me while I was putting my shoes on and I told her to move because I was going to miss the bus."
Minho laughed again, but this one sounded broken.
"She asked for a hug and I told her I'd do it later."
His voice cracked.
"I didn't even hug her."
Jin looked down at the steel pipe in his hands because looking at Minho felt too personal somehow.
Across the room, Seul-ki sat quietly in one of the chairs, her injured leg stretched out awkwardly in front of her. Her hands were folded tightly in her lap.
She stared at the floor when she spoke.
"My younger brother was supposed to come by the office today."
She swallowed once.
"He forgot his wallet this morning and called me saying he'd stop by after class so I could lend him money. I told him not to be annoying and just use his card like a normal person."
A small, bitter smile touched her mouth.
"He said I was heartless and promised he'd show up anyway."
Her fingers tightened.
"He jokes all the time, talks too much, eats my food and never replaces it. I yell at him every single day."
Her voice got quieter.
"I really hope he didn't come...."
Her eyes stayed on the floor.
"Because if he came here today…"
Daniel leaned against the wall nearby, arms folded tightly like he was holding himself together.
"I was supposed to pick up my son from daycare."
His voice sounded tired.
"Every Thursday. I'm always late and he always gets mad at me for it. Acts like he's my landlord collecting rent."
That got the smallest breath of laughter from Sora.
Daniel shook his head.
"Now for once in my life I don't want to be late for him but..."
The silence after that was worse than the monsters they had all faced earlier.
Because monsters were simple, it was just a matter of fighting to survive but to think of all your loved ones who just might not be able to protect themselves, you would have to live on with thoughts about what wouldve happened to them if you were by their side..
The healer girl was kneeling beside Min again, her hands glowing faintly as she worked.
She didn't look up when she spoke.
"My kids are home too."
Her voice trembled.
"My mother watches them after school. My daughter hates broccoli and my son lies about brushing his teeth every single night." She gave a shaky laugh. "I used to think those things were exhausting."
Her hands shook.
"Now I'd do anything just to hear them arguing again."
Jin listened.
And for the first time since all of this began, the office didn't feel like the center of the apocalypse, it felt rather small in the grand scheme of things. All those people died and their families would never know for sure if they did or not.
Min, pale and half-conscious against the wall, whispered quietly,
"I didn't have anyone on the outside, only thing I had was my job..."
Jin leaned back against the cabinet behind him and rested the steel pipe across his knees.
"Well you have us now."
For a second, Min just stared.
Then he smiled.
Then Sora spoke from the other side of the room.
"This is insane."
She sat on the floor, knees pulled to her chest, staring at the ceiling like answers might be written there.
"You wake up, go to work, complain about your boss, and suddenly monsters are ripping people apart and we all have magic powers like this is some terrible web novel."
Minho let out a weak laugh.
"Honestly, if this was a novel, I'd stop reading because it'd feel unrealistic."
Sora looked at her hands.
"It doesn't feel real."
"It is," Daniel said quietly.
That shut the room up again.
Because he was right.
This wasn't a game and it certainly wasnt fiction.
Jin tightened his grip on the pipe.
A quiet anger had been building in him all this time at whatever had done this to them all, that voice gave them these systems then destoyed the world all for the same of making us more interest.
They all seemed to be thinking about the same thing as he was cause Sora started to talk.
"Whoever caused this…"
Her voice was sharp now.
"I want to find them."
Minho nodded.
"I want to know why."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"I want to make them regret it."
Jin wanted to embrace that rage but right now his rage didn't matter. All that mattered was surviving these first 24 hours like the system had said. Maybe everything would return to normal afterwards.
Then Minho looked at him.
Really looked at him.
"You and Min."
Jin frowned slightly.
"What about us?"
Minho gestured toward the blood-stained floor, toward the dead monster in the other room, toward everything.
"You two are the reason we're still alive, thanks for helping us out."
Sora nodded.
"He's right, we owe you our lives."
Seul-ki crossed her arms.
"You and Min are the only reason we didn't die today, especially you."
Jin immediately hated where this was going.
"No you guys give me too much credit"
"No," Daniel said. "We havent given you enough actually you and your skill has been mighty useful."
The healer girl looked up from Min.
"Speaking of skills, what exactly is your skill?"
There it was.
The question he'd been avoiding.
Jin looked down at the pipe in his hands.
He still didn't know how he felt about it.
Compared to fire, healing, steel skin, gravity, super reflexes, his power still felt like underwhelming.
So with a quiet sigh, he summoned his screen.
[Limitless Weapon Mastery]
The glowing words hovered in the dim room.
Everyone stared.
"…That sounds kind of cool."
Jin gave him a flat look.
"It sounds cooler than it feels."
Sora tilted her head.
"So what does it actually do?"
Jin stared at the screen for a moment.
Then answered honestly.
"Basically any weapon I pick up, I understand how to use it to fight."
He looked at the steel pipe.
Seul-ki frowned.
"That's still useful."
"Yeah," Jin said. "If I have something to hit people with."
Minho pointed at the pipe.
"Which you do."
Fair.
Still, Jin couldn't shake the feeling.
Everyone else had powers that felt supernatural.
His felt like being told to work harder.
But it had kept him alive.
Maybe that had to be enough.
Minho leaned back against the wall.
"Well, whatever it is, it works. You got us here."
Daniel nodded.
"So did Min."
The room grew quieter again.
Jin looked over at Min, he wasnt as pale as before so that was a plus. People were starting to realize taking him with them was a good idea and started to trust Jin for realizing he had a use.
That should have felt good, finally being recognized for something but it didn't. It felt overwhelming because trust meant responsibility. It meant if they followed him and died, part of that belonged to him.Monsters were terrifying but that scared him more than anything.
Jin stared at the barricaded door.
For the first time in his life, people were looking at him like he might know what to do but the truth was simple.
He didn't.
He was just the one still standing.